DRIVE

Photos of my MSD 6A install.

so early in the process it seemed my acceleration dead spot might be caused by too much gas: non-adjustable holley carb with floats set for 3-6psi while the fuel pump was putting out 9. now that i have everything dialed in and running amazingly well, i figured i’d finally drop in the 4.5psi fuel regulator i picked up a while back just to see if it could help iron out the one remaining issue- hugely inconsistent rpm speed based on ambient temperature. instead it just starved the engine and killed everything; so now i have an object which in theory does something very cool, but nothing to do with it. anyone need any flow regulated?

next and almost-final step tuning-wise is installing a rich/lean meter in the dash, so i can really dial in my fuel mix (and in the process, hopefully get my fuel economy to where it needs to be as a daily driver). already have the meter, and will found a shop that will weld an o2 sensor bung into the exhaust for $50, sensor included. i have dual pipes, but that shouldn’t matter for my purposes. looking forward to getting the extra data point.

Went to pick up plywood for the stage, and in the parking lot discovered that I’d run out of oil. As in, the valve cover gasket had gotten so bad it had dumped all the oil out of the truck. Poured in a spare quart, drove it home, replaced the gasket & two shady-looking bolts; then rode my bike to the dollar store and picked up another five quarts. Reset the timing and the truck is driving like a freakin’ luxury car.

It’s kind of amazing. 18 months ago the most intense auto work I’d ever done was installing speakers. I didn’t know what a valve cover was, let alone how to fix a problem like this by feel. Now I’m not lying when I tell people I’m into classic restoration; and I’ve actually rebuilt most of the engine in the vehicle I drive every day.

Ironically, febrile originally convinced me to start this journal so we could document restoration of the 200sx; but apparently at some point last night it transcended its earthly being and rose to a higher plane. Given all the soul-searching we’ve done together, and its more efficient tendency to exist only as itself in both spiritual and physical senses; I can’t say I’m exactly surprised it beat me there, but it is sort of a bummer given that we’d finally gotten it rolling again.

so on Friday I rented this giant awesome piece of equipment called a material lift and over the weekend I mounted the projector screen. screen dimensions are 12′ x 12′. overall, the object is 14 feet and change and weighs 250 lbs.

it took the rest of Friday to figure out how to get the lift off my truck (answer: lower it using tiedown points as pulleys). saturday was mostly creating support points using deck hardware and then unsuccessfully trying to use the included mounting hardware. i ended up finishing the project Sunday night at 2AM. it took three hours on Monday to load the thing back up on the truck- 20 minutes to get it out the door, 2.5 hours standing around waiting for someone on the sidewalk willing to help lift it, 5min to load it up w/ the neighbor & 5 to tie it down.

so once i got the whole thing mounted and wired up, i realized that i didn’t have a way to control it. a three position switch (up-off-down) costs $80 locally. you can order one from the company for $54. i built this one for $4, including a delicious snack.

in other news, the valve cover gasket on the truck has started leaking so badly that it’s not only smoking like crazy but evolved into a vacuum leak. i only got home today by reversing the PCV valve setup, so that the PCV is on the pass. side and the hose from the air filter is coming out the front. i have the spare gasket already, just need an afternoon to swap it (and in the long run, a much better set of valve covers).